Wireless Personal Guitar Amplification System boasts five amp types, over 50 effects, Bluetooth connectivity and much more
For electric guitar players, listening to your amp through traditional headphones can often be a – how should we put it? – bummer of an experience.
Which makes Boss’s new Waza-Air Wireless Personal Guitar Amplification System look like a rather intriguing alternative.
The new 100-percent wireless headphone system, according to the company, restores the natural dimension, resonance, and 'moving air' feel of being face-to-face (or ear-to-speaker) with a real amp.
How does the Waza-Air do it? Says Boss, via “an integrated gyro sensor that tracks head movements as the user plays, driving 3D algorithms that produce an immersive sound field with extraordinary spatial realism.”
The system offers three different sound environments: Surround mode, which places the amp in a virtual room; static mode, which provides natural spatial localization, where the combined amp and room sound continually changes depending on where the user moves his or her head; and stage mode, which places the user centerstage, with the amp sound coming from a virtual backline.
(Image credit: courtesy of Boss)
Tones and controls come courtesy of Boss’ stage-class Katana amplifiers, with full customization available via the free Boss Tone Studio app for iOS and Android.
Five amp types deliver tones from classic clean to high gain, plus a full-range voice ideal for bass or acoustic-electric guitar.
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There are also more than 50 effect types, including mod, delay and reverb options, and the system comes loaded with six onboard memories where users can store setups and recall them with dedicated buttons.
Built-in Bluetooth allows users to jam along with songs from mobile devices, and when the system is in stage mode the streaming music plays from the backline along with the amp sound for a live-like performance environment. A multi-function lever also allows for remote control of volume and playback functions.
Additionally, the headphones and transmitter feature auto standby and wake functions, conserving the life of the built-in rechargeable batteries between playing sessions.
The Waza-Air Wireless Personal Guitar Amplification System is available now for $399.99. For more information, head to Boss.
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
